Daily Archives: March 3, 2015

While I’m sitting here hoping the winter weather is gone for good, I’m also making sure I stay prepared. Yesterday, I pulled out my good friend, the crockpot. Still maintaining the dairy-free/paleo mind set, I browsed through a few recipes to figure out one for my own {a.k.a. what’s going to be my easiest and cheapest option based on what I already have at home}. This recipe is great because it’s flexible. Notice how I didn’t put any “meat” in the title? While I used chicken for this recipe, you can also sub ground beef or turkey. In terms of what makes soup “soupy”, I also noticed that there was essentially a 2:1 ratio between any tomato-based ingredient {salsa, diced tomatoes, tomato paste} and water or chicken broth/stock. You’ll get more of an idea of what I mean when you see the ingredients.

1 lb of frozen chicken {***I add the chicken in frozen and it’s easily shreddable once you’re ready to eat. You can also sub this with 1 lb of ground turkey or ground beef, just make sure you brown the ground meat in a skillet first***}
3 Bell Peppers, diced and sliced {any color you want!}
1 onion {red or yellow will work}
1 jalapeno, chopped
2-3 garlic cloves, minced {I’m a garlic freak, I like to add 3}
2 cups of salsa {I used the original salsa from Trader Joe’s…remember, here you can also used diced tomatoes, etc…have fun with it!}
1 cup of water {**check the 2:1 ratio here as well, remember you can sub any of the options I listed above, just keep the ratio}
1/2 tsp salt1/2 tsp of onion powder1/2 tsp of oregano {dried and crushed}1/4 tsp of cumin1/4 tsp of paprika1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper1/4 tsp of red pepper flakes

Plus diced avocado for topping. This can get slightly spicy depending on what you decide to use, the avocado does a great job cooling it off {a little}.

Directions:

Add all of the ingredients above in a crockpot {minus the avocado} on high for 3-4 hours or low for 6-8 hours. Viola!

Now, like I said, you can get pretty creative with this. Just imagine using a fruity salsa instead! Some kind of peachy, pineappley, mango-ey {not sure about the spelling here}, instead of a basic tomato based salsa. As I’m typing this, I’m already coming up with a new crockpot idea…and I’m getting hungry. That’s what cooking is all about, aside from being healthy, it’s also all about having fun and being creative!

This is also a very freezable recipe, so it’s perfect all around!

What are some of your favorite crockpot recipes? What are some of your favorite salsas?

Skinny Fingers

Welcome, I'm so happy you're here! I'm Christine, a blogger who's recently moved back to NC, now living in Charlotte. I love learning about everything life has to offer. Do I take myself seriously? Rarely. Do I take living a full, healthy, and balanced life seriously? Always. It's all about the journey. So tell me, what are your "Skinny Fingers"?